2014 U.S. Ad Growth Estimate Upgraded By Pivitol Analyst

June 17, 2014 at 4:53 AM (PT)

Good news from PIVOTAL RESEARCH GROUP Sr. Analyst BRIAN WIESER, who is increasing his 2014 U.S. ad growth estimate projection. He expects growth to hit 4% -- rather than his previous forcsst of 2.5%. MEDIAPOST reports, "WIESER’s upgrade follows the INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING BUREAU’s release earlier in the week (NET NEWS 6/13) of first-quarter online spending figures, which showed a 19% year-over-year gain. Overall ad growth in the first quarter, WIESER calculates, was 4.4% -- up a full percentage point over the fourth quarter 2013 rate of 3.4%."

“With yesterday’s release of figures from the IAB for first quarter online advertising building on the rest of the industry’s figures from the same period, we can conclude that the year ahead should be increasingly rosy,” WIESER NOTED in a report. “While many traditional media continued to decline, local and national television continued to hold up with low to mid-single digit growth. By itself, digital advertising’s gains of $1.8 billion almost matched the entire industry’s $1.9 billion of growth during the quarter. We could alternately suggest that television advertising’s $1.6 billion year-over-year gain (excluding the Olympics and political advertising) was equally critical in driving the industry’s growth, as most other traditional media tends to serve as the source of budget shifts into digital advertising.”